If it wasn't for the flash KD, people would talk about how easily Calzaghe beat Hopkins

Hopkins won the first 5-6 rounds then Joe took over . Joe's stamina was off the charts.

 

Bhop won the first 7 rounds easy

 

7, I've never seen (that I remember) hops win the first 7 rounds of any post mw fight.

 

No sane person can give Hopkins more than 6 rounds in that fight. And I think you are a pretty bad scorer if you gave him 6.

It's a terrible fight and I remember thinking Joe won either 8-4 or 7-5 both times and even with the KD, he still won.

 

It was a very ugly, close fight. I had Calzaghe winning
solely due to activity, I refused to score rounds for
Hopkins despite his shots, they were to far between.
But no, Calzaghe struggled to beat him, the fight was
close.

 

Calzaghie got schooled.
Joe and dads convo after 11 was classic.
Bhop frustrated joe and his dad all night.

 

If people really thought Hopkins "schooled" Calzaghe, there's no way on Earth Pavlik, who Hopkins holds a distinct styles advantage over, would've been the favorite to beat him at 170, let alone a -400 favorite. The talk wasn't about whether or not Pavlik would win; but whether he would be the first to KO Hopkins. People were calling for Hopkins to retire rather than face Pavlik. This, despite Kelly moving up in weight for the fight.

The ONLY reason the odds were that wide is that Calzaghe made Hopkins look old and bad, to the point where people legitimately thought Hopkins was done. It wasn't just fans; there was no shortage of boxing insiders calling for his retirement after that fight. People bet accordingly. Period.

 

Not biased or anything with him being a local lad but the hate you see from some for Joe is awful, Joe was a great fighter. Could adapt to anything or anyone, great heart, great fighting man...